Professional Development & Workshop Offerings for Educators

Many students with learning differences can thrive in mainstream schools with the right support from informed teachers. Research shows that brain structure and function are different in people who have learning differences, and learning differences are not related to intelligence. Evidence-based strategies, supports, and teaching approaches can help students with learning differences find the path to academic success.

Learn how to integrate proven interventions into your teaching to meet the diverse needs of your students. Strategies will include:

Multisensory Instructional Methods: Engage multiple senses to enhance learning and retention.
Differentiated Instruction: Tailor your teaching to address varied learning styles and abilities.
Scaffolding Techniques: Provide step-by-step support to help students master complex concepts.
Building Executive Function Skills: Support organization, time management, and task completion across academic contexts.
Promoting Student Advocacy: Foster independence and confidence by helping students understand and articulate their needs.

This session will equip you with tools to create an inclusive, supportive environment where students with learning differences can excel academically and build lifelong skills.

Audience: Independent and public school educators and administrators

Executive functions—skills like planning, organization, and self-regulation—are essential for academic success but can be challenging for students with ADHD and executive function (EF) difficulties. This workshop is designed to help educators seamlessly integrate executive function skill-building into everyday classroom routines and instruction.This workshop will give examples of how students can receive scaffolded support to navigate their academic responsibilities and develop their executive skills through seamless integration across the academic environment.

Topics covered include:
Metacognition
Organization of Information and Belongings
Self-Regulation
Working Memory

By attending this session, you’ll gain strategies to create a classroom environment that not only supports students with ADHD and EF challenges but helps all learners develop critical skills for academic and personal success.

Audience: Independent and public school educators and administrators

Early identification and intervention is key to the future success of students with a variety of challenges and difficulties. This workshop will explore how to recognize children that may benefit from intervention, support, or a specialized environment and how to implement interventions designed to address a variety of these challenges.

What You’ll Learn:
Strategies to Support Attention and Learning: Practical techniques to help young learners stay focused and engaged.
Approaches for Language, Regulation, Fine Motor, and Visual-Spatial Skills: Evidence-based methods to address key developmental areas in the early childhood classroom.
Identifying Red Flags: Learn how to recognize when a child may need additional support or a specialized evaluation and how to take the next steps.

Through this session, attendees will leave with actionable strategies and the confidence to create a nurturing, supportive environment where all children can thrive.

Audience: Early childhood educators and administrators

Retaining skilled educators is essential for building a strong, stable school community. Stephen Gaynor School’s Senior Educator Program is an innovative initiative designed to foster long-term career paths and professional growth while aligning with the school’s curriculum goals.

What You’ll Learn:
Program Overview: Explore the structure of this three-year program, which equips educators with leadership and mentoring skills.
Career Advancement: Discover how Senior Educators gain opportunities to lead curriculum development, mentor early-career teachers, and facilitate professional learning sessions.
Retention Benefits: Learn how the program supports experienced teachers, keeping them engaged and invested in their roles.

This session will provide insights into how a well-designed retention model can incentivize professional growth while maintaining a high standard of teaching excellence.

Audience: School leaders and administrators

Strong sentences are the building blocks of effective writing. This workshop is designed to empower educators with practical strategies to help students craft clear, cohesive sentences and build them into compelling paragraphs.

What You’ll Learn:
Sentence Strategies: Explore techniques to strengthen sentence structure, variety, and clarity across all grade levels.
Paragraph Development: Gain tools to guide students in organizing their ideas into coherent, well-developed paragraphs.
Cross-Curricular Applications: Learn how to apply these strategies in any content area to support writing growth in diverse contexts.

Through hands-on activities and innovative approaches, this session equips teachers to inspire confidence and skill in their students as writers.

Audience: Independent and public school elementary and lower school educators

Teaching writing to middle school students with expressive language difficulties requires a specialized approach. This workshop equips educators with the knowledge, strategies, and resources to support effective and rigorous writing instruction tailored to the needs of students with learning differences.

What You’ll Gain:
Identifying Salient Information: Teach students how to analyze and extract key details from a variety of sources.
Note-Taking and Outlining Skills: Provide structured strategies to help students organize their thoughts and ideas effectively.
Thesis Statement Construction: Guide students in crafting clear and compelling thesis statements that anchor their writing.
Editing and Revising Techniques: Build students’ confidence in refining and improving their work for clarity and coherence.

This session offers practical, evidence-based tools to help teachers deliver high-quality, rigorous writing instruction that meets the diverse needs of middle school learners.

Audience: Independent and public school middle school educators

Transform your math instruction with engaging, multisensory routines that promote both fact fluency and problem-solving skills. This session is designed to help educators integrate tactile, rhythmic, and full-body activities into their math classrooms, making learning inclusive and dynamic for all students, especially those with learning differences.

What You’ll Learn:
Fluency Through Movement: Discover hands-on techniques that make math facts stick.
Creative Problem-Solving: Engage students with multisensory strategies that deepen their understanding of complex concepts.
Inclusion in Action: Learn how to make your math lessons accessible and engaging for diverse learners.
Ready-to-Use Routines: Leave with practical, implementable strategies you can start using immediately.

Join us to explore how multisensory approaches can energize your math class, foster exploration, and support all learners in achieving success.

Audience: Independent and public school elementary and lower school educators

Are you a middle school educator seeking effective ways to support students with learning differences in science? This workshop is designed to provide actionable strategies that enhance reading, writing, and executive functioning skills, specifically tailored for the science classroom.

Learn from experienced special educators as they share practical methods grounded in evidence-based frameworks, including:

Orton-Gillingham 
Writing Revolution
Thinking Maps 
Sarah Ward’s Executive Function Supports 

Participants will not only gain insight into these proven strategies but will also have the chance to practice and adapt them for their own classrooms.

Audience: Independent and public school elementary and lower school educators

Are you looking for practical strategies to make science instruction more engaging and accessible for all learners? This interactive workshop is designed specifically for elementary educators!

Discover how to use multisensory approaches—including kinesthetic activities, visual aids, hands-on experiments, explicit instruction, and simplified language—to meet the diverse needs of your students while aligning with NGSS standards. Through the lens of a dynamic unit on honeybees, you’ll explore ready-to-implement examples that bring science to life in your classroom. 

Audience: Independent and public school elementary school educators